Near Misses
by alyssialui
Summary: Katie changes her mind about George. George/Katie.


_A/N: Katie changes her mind about George. George/Katie._

 _Submission for:_

 _ **The Matchmaker Game Challenge:** George Weasley - Katie Bell_

 _ **Hogwarts Writing Club Competition:** Round 9 - hate_

 _ **Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments): **Major & Minor Arcana Assignment #6 - consider the idea of 'bold action' in your story. Prompt: Gryffindor_

 _ **SEPTEMBER EVENT: "Back to School":** (dialogue) "It's great to be back at school...I was getting so bored of sleeping in and enjoying life."_

 _ **The Restricted Collection:** No slash / femmeslash pairings_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter._

* * *

Katie chatted with Angelina and Alicia as they walked out of the girls' locker room, their brooms slung over their shoulders. The sun was barely rising over the tops of the trees of the Forest, but that didn't matter to the Gryffindor team captain. Today was the first day after their return to Hogwarts, and as usual, Oliver wanted them all to show up for a quick practice to ensure they hadn't gotten rusty over the summer.

Angelina was just telling her and Alicia about the art classes she had taken over the summer when a loud boisterous voice announced its presence.

"It's great to be back at school...I was getting so bored of sleeping in and enjoying life," the person said as they traipsed across the Quidditch pitch in their direction.

Katie's mouth fell into a scowl, but it went unseen by her two friends. "Hi Fred!" Angeline cried. "Hi George!" Alicia cried. It was already common knowledge that they had massive crushes on the twin beaters of their team. The two of them ran forward to greet them, Katie pulling up the rear quietly. Hugs were exchanged, all while Katie watched on quietly, wondering when Oliver and Harry would get here so they could get this over with.

"Okay there, Bell?" George asked. "Not happy to see us?"

Her face reddened and she quickly shook her head. "No... just... tired," she said lamely. It wasn't particularly that she hated the twins. No one could really hate the twins. Though their pranks were sometimes mean and reckless, they were all in good fun and caused a lot of laughs. What she hated was how they seemed to bask in the attention, especially Fred, who usually took the lead. They strutted around without a care in the world, like they owned the place, and everyone fell over them. But not Katie, never Katie.

The redheads rose matching eyebrows, her friends looked at her strangely, but she was saved further explanation when Oliver and Harry exited the boys' locker room from behind them.

"You two are just getting here?" Oliver asked, his voice surprised and slightly angry. "I told you 6 am promptly."

"Well, you know," one twin started. "Traffic," the other ended and Angelina and Alicia giggled. Katie rolled her eyes. They never took anything seriously.

Oliver was not amused. "Just hurry up and get changed. You got five minutes," he said.

"We'll do it in four," they shouted, running around the group towards the boys' locker room. Katie simply shook her head as she followed the group to the equipment case, ignoring Angelina and Alicia's chattering. When would those two grow up?

* * *

The twins soon returned (four minutes like they promised) and the balls were released, everyone rising into the air. Harry would try to find the snitch while Angelina, Alicia and Katie played against each other, all trying to score against Oliver who guarded the goal posts near the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff stands.

Katie hung in the air, a few strands of her brown hair clinging to her glistening forehead. They had been practicing for almost two hours, judging by the position of the sun, and she was exhausted. She hoped that soon Oliver would say they had done enough for an unofficial practice and could finally go to breakfast.

She watched as Angelina chased Alicia, the quaffle tucked under the latter girl's arm, and she wondered how easy it would be to snatch it for herself and gain points for herself when there was a strange whistling sound. Katie turned as a large, black cannonball whizzed through the air towards her. Her instinct told her to move, to outrun the stupid Bludger before it caved her skull in, but she hesitated, slightly frozen by fear. There wouldn't be enough time to get away, and if she was lucky, she'd walk away with just a broken arm. If not-

 _ **Twack!**_

The bludger went off in the other direction, to the far end of the pitch. Katie took in the serious, angry expression on the twin who had hit the Bludger away from her, his glare directed at his brother.

"What were you doing, Fred?" he called out. "You let it get past you and almost hit Katie in the chest!"

Fred flew forward, his eyes just as fierce. "It was an accident, okay? It zoomed around me and I thought Katie would fly out of the way in time! How was I supposed to know she'd just stay there like a sitting duck!"

Everyone was looking at them now. Angelina and Alicia hovered a bit away, the quaffle almost forgotten. Harry floated above, watching the altercation and wanting to intervene. Oliver was making his way over from the posts. George opened his mouth, shocked at his brother's apparent disregard for her safety before he turned to her. "Are you alright, Katie?"

Katie looked between the two twins before she said, "I'm fine." Then towards Fred, she added, "I'll try not to be a sitting duck next time."

She was about to fly off when she felt something tug her sleeve. She turned towards George, noticing the concern in his eyes. "I know we aren't the most careful or considerate people when it comes to our pranks, but we would never want anyone hurt, especially with a goddamn Bludger. I don't know what's wrong with that bugger (here, he glared at Fred again, and Fred at least looked apologetic), but he's sorry. We both are," he said.

Katie gave George a small smile. "All right then. No worries. I'm fine," she said.

The twins smiled. Oliver, noticing the issue had been resolved, looked to the sun and said, "I think we can call it in now."

The team cheered and began to descend. But now it was Katie's turn to grab George's sleeve.

"Thanks for knocking the Bludger away. If you hadn't, I really would have been creamed," she said.

George grinned, his smile dazzling in the morning light. "Not a problem, Bell," he said.

A warmth spread across her cheeks as George flew down. No, she didn't hate him, not at all.


End file.
